Lawmakers' concerns rise with pump prices

WASHINGTON — With oil still trading above $100 per barrel, Democrats and Republicans on Thursday pressed Obama administration officials to detail the White House's plans for keeping gasoline prices down and America's economic recovery on track.

"The fear among American consumers is that the price of gas will go up as high as $5 a gallon by this summer," Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa, said during a congressional hearing with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. "Is the administration currently making any contingency plans in anticipation of this?"

Salazar said that "everything is on the table in terms of potential actions" that could keep prices in check.

"Working on the economy and sending this economy up is a highest priority for the American people, and obviously, the price of fuel is one of those factors," Salazar said. "We are very well aware of what is happening in the world and the rising prices."

Continuing unrest in the Middle East and supply disruptions in Libya have sent the price of oil above $100 a barrel, with futures contracts for April delivery of West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, closing at $101.91 on Thursday.

Gasoline prices have also jumped. The national average for regular was $3.43 per gallon on Thursday, up 4 cents in one day, AAA reported. It was $3.28 in Houston, up 3 cents from Wednesday.

'Hands behind our back'

Tapping into concern that higher fuel prices could drive up the cost of everything from produce to industrial equipment, Republicans took aim at the administration's decision to postpone possible drilling along the Atlantic Coast and said federal regulators have dragged their feet in approving offshore drilling projects since last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

"We seem to have our hands behind our back," said Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio. "And this lack of permitting - this lack of going after resources that we have right here in America - is indicative of a failed energy policy."

Rep. John Fleming, R-La., accused the administration of "constricting fossil fuel production" to make alternative fuels more competitive.

And Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., said if gasoline rises above $4 nationally and stays at that level, it could prolong the recession.

Sees little effect

But Salazar rejected Gulf Coast lawmakers' assertions that the government could keep oil prices down by approving new offshore drilling projects more quickly.

The international market sets oil prices, he said, and a small boost in domestic production would not have much of an effect. Besides, he said, the slowdown in drilling after the spill didn't halt existing offshore production.

Salazar also noted that federal regulators have issued 37 permits to drill in shallow waters since the Deep- water Horizon disaster last April.

"The fact of the matter is that we have moved forward with drilling both onshore and offshore," Salazar said. "We are moving forward in a robust way."

Salazar insisted that the administration is committed to enhancing oil and gas production as part of a "comprehensive energy portfolio" that also includes alternative sources such as wind and solar power.

'Beyond ludicrous'

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., said it was "beyond ludicrous" to blame the administration for oil prices that are being propelled upward by events on the other side of the world.

"Whatever happens in the United States with drilling and the like is not going to change the price very much," he said.

In recent days, a growing number of lawmakers have suggested that the U.S. try to tame spiking crude prices by tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a 726-million-barrel stockpile of oil stored in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana.

But administration officials have so far been cool to the idea.

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said there is enough spare oil production capacity around the world to make up for disruptions in supply.